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The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations

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The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno- Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations Tolga Er 1 The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations 2 The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations THE POSITIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN TURKEY ON THE RESOLUTION OF THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT AND TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS ................. 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4 Formation of an International Committee on 1915 and the Resolution of the Nagorno- Karabakh Conflict in Favor of Azerbaijan ............................................................................... 6 Justice and Development Party (AKP) ..................................................................................... 6 Republican People’s Party (CHP) ............................................................................................. 8 A Tough Stance ...................................................................................................................... 9 Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) ........................................................................................ 9 Great Union Party (BBP) ........................................................................................................ 10 The Patriotic Party (VP) ......................................................................................................... 10 Felicity Party (SP) ................................................................................................................... 10 Normalization of Relations Without Any Preconditions....................................................... 11 Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) .......................................................................................... 11 Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) ..................................................................................... 12 Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) ......................................................................................... 12 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 12 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 14 Author ................................................................................................................................. 17 Endnotes ............................................................................................................................. 17 3 The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations Introduction Sixteen political parties as well as 21 independent candidates ran for Turkey’s latest General Snap Election in November 2015 after the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) – the party in power at the moment – or any other political parties failed to get or form a majority in the Parliament during the General Election in June of the same year. Since the November 2015 General Election, four political parties are in the Parliament with the AKP in the government and Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP), Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi, HDP), Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) in opposition. These parties had 317, 134, 59, and 40 members in the Parliament respectively at the time they entered the Parliament. 85.23 percent of Turkish people eligible to vote turned out in Turkey’s previous General Election. The AKP, CHP, MHP and HDP shared the 98 percent of the overall vote by getting 49.50 percent, 25.32 percent, 11.90 percent, 10,76 percent respectivelyi. After the ratification of the bill to strip MPs of immunity, eleven Parliament members of the HDP – including Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, – the co-leaders of the party – and a member of the CHP got jailed. Further, four members of the HDP including Figen Yüksekdağ were stripped of their seats in the Parliament. Also, the MHP expelled four members from their party. Therefore, the current number of MPs of the AKP, CHP, HDP and MHP is 317, 133, 55, and 36 respectively. There are also five independent – including four ex-members of the MHP – MPs in the Parliament. (Grand National Assembly of Turkey 2017) Despite the political turmoil and polarization between parties becoming more and more obvious after the 2016 coup d’état attempt and the Turkish constitutional referendum which was held in April 2017, parties on the opposite sides of the polarization, with only few exceptions, are in union in the view on relations with Azerbaijan, the Turkey-Armenia border, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and forming an international committee to research the “1915 Events”. Therefore, the only parties outside the Parliament that have been included are the ones that albeit slightly add nuances to the positions already presented by the parliamentary parties. The most articulate are Islamic fundamentalist and 4 The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations eurosceptic Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi, SP), cultural nationalist and Islamist Great Union Party (Büyük Birlik Partisi, BBP), socialist libertarian Freedom and Solidarity Party (Özgürlük ve Dayanışma Partisi, ÖDP), Communist Party of Turkey (Türkiye Komünist Partisi, TKP), and Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi, VP) which describes itself as Vanguard Party and aims to bring socialists, revolutionaries, Turkish nationalists, and Kemalists together. Other parties outside the Parliament have not been included since they do not represent opinions that are radically different from those already present in the Parliament or among the extra-parliamentary parties that have been analyzed. The positions according to which the parties are grouped are “formation of an international committee on 1915 and the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan”, “a tough stance”, and “normalization of relations without any preconditions”. The sources according to which the positions have been teased out are the election programs as well as the speeches, interviews, and statements of the party leaders and spokespeople as well as analytical articles and reports about the parties’ positions. Due to the AKP being the party in power during the Turkish-Armenian normalization process which started in 2007 and acting as the powerhouse directing Turkey’s foreign relations for the last 15 years, international agreements and statements made by ministries of Turkey during this period have also been used to have a better understanding where the AKP stands regarding Turkey-Armenia and Turkey-Azerbaijan relations. 5 The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations Formation of an International Committee on 1915 and the Resolution of the Nagorno- Karabakh Conflict in Favor of Azerbaijan Justice and Development Party (AKP) When the AKP, the party in power since 2002, leader and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was asked three years ago whether establishing Turkey- Armenia diplomatic relations and opening the border can be expected, he was quite frank where he and his party stands: “There are some conditions. The Karabakh conflict is the essential matter for us. Before reaching a solution on the Karabakh conflict, our government can’t say yes to those things since there is a serious injustice in that matter. The Karabakh conflict must be resolved first (Evrensel.net 2014). Interrelated relations between the three countries and the AKP’s view on the precondition of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for improving relations with Armenia have not changed much since then as it can be seen from the annual document titled “Our Foreign Affairs at the Beginning of 2017” published by Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the document, it is stated, “As long as there are no improvements in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, any progress in the relations between Turkey and Armenia won’t be sufficient and permanent”. In the same document, it is said that the normalization process depends on the genuine steps Armenia will take: “Turkey’s willingness for the normalization of relations with Armenia is preserved, but the process was interrupted by the suspension and recall of the Zürich Protocols from the Armenian parliament” (Mfa.gov.tr 2017). The intention of the AKP to normalize relations with Armenia depends foremost on the resolve of the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but 6 The Positions of Political Parties in Turkey on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Turkey-Armenia Relations the party does not seek any military intervention according to the program announced for the 2015 election. In the program, it is stated that “the country will keep making efforts to bring the occupation of Azerbaijan’s territory to an end and finish the tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia with the goal of resolving disputes in the South Caucasus
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